Germany recorded a significant decline in migration in 2025, with net migration falling by 45% year-on-year to approximately 235,000, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Total arrivals dropped 13% to 1.48 million, while departures edged down 2% to 1.25 million.

The decrease was partly attributed to fewer arrivals from key asylum countries: net migration from Syria fell by 67%, from Afghanistan by 41%, and from Ukraine by 21%. Immigration from other EU countries also declined. Meanwhile, the most popular destinations for Germans emigrating were Switzerland, Austria, and Spain.

In a separate development, a court in Düsseldorf sentenced a 36-year-old Syrian man, identified as Mahmoud M., to life in prison for an Islamist knife attack on football fans in Bielefeld in May 2025. The Higher Regional Court convicted him of four counts of attempted murder and found the severity of guilt particularly grave.

The attacker used a modified walking stick with an 18-centimeter blade attached. Judges stated he acted with jihadist motives and showed no empathy for the victims. The court also ordered preventive detention, citing the ongoing danger he poses. Prosecutors revealed that the man had been active with the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria and had sworn allegiance to IS before coming to Germany in 2023.

The defendant confessed to the crime in pre-trial detention and again in court. He also told investigators he had previously killed two people in Syria, including his half-brother, on behalf of IS. A psychiatric expert assessed him as deeply radicalized, with extremist ideology firmly embedded in his personality, and at high risk of reoffending. Victims told the court they still suffer from the attack, in which they were seriously injured.

Source: www.dw.com